My Mad Best Friend and His Amazing Blue Box
by SamBentleyUK
Summary: Hello, I'm Craig. A few years ago I met a man called the Doctor. Then he left and flew off into the stars. He later returned and met my son, Alfie. Then he dissapeared off the face of the Earth, and I didn't see him for years and I thought he was dead. Untill three weeks ago. This is the story of my latest adventure or should I say adventures, with the Doctor. Post-TATM -complete-
1. How I Ended Up Living In A Box

The Doctor was sat in a large armchair in his study. As I walked in the door I saw he was reading a book. It was blue and had a three block square design on it. In the middle square there was a funny little symbol which I could only make out to be a fancy looking '8'. He didn't look up when I walked in just continued to stare at the book flipping through slowly. I decided that I'd sit in the only spare seat in the room, and did so, but fell straight through it onto my back.

'Better watch where you're sitting there matey!' he said to me 'Holographic chair...' he still hadn't looked up from his book. I got up and went outside. I came back with a chair I'd found in a closet down the corridor and sat on it, this time my sitting was successful.

'Why on earth do you need a holographic chair?' I said once sat down.

'We're not on Earth are we, Craig!' he looked up at me and grinned, then faced down to the book again.

'Still... holographic chair!? Why would you need one?' I said confused.

'What if I had... hologram visitors!' the Doctor said abruptly placing the book down on the shelf beside him. 'They'd need a place to sit!' he was agitated. He had been very upset the night he knocked on the door to our house. He asked to stay the night and me and Sophie agreed it would be okay.

It was the middle of September, two years after I last saw him. I was convinced the Doctor had died, I almost even forgot him at one point, as if he had never existed. But then out of nowhere, there was a knock on the door. Alfie, who had started walking and talking by then, walked with me up to the door and as I opened it he reached out and hugged the Doctor's leg. The Doctor picked him up and hugged him back. 'Hello Stormy, how are you?' he said.

I let him into the house and he told us about his friends Amy and Rory and how he needed someone to be with. We said he could stay for as long as he liked, and there was a spare room he could stay in. He said a spare room was not needed and walked out the door. Two seconds later he walked down our stairs.

'How the blazes did you do that?' Sophie asked in which he replied with a signal which meant to follow him. That's when we got to see the TARDIS, the time machine, the bigger-on-the-inside blue box. 'Oh my...' Sophie started. That was the first time the Doctor smiled since he arrived.

So for the last three weeks the Doctor had been living with us. There were both ups and downs to this. Ups; Alfie got to meet his godfather, it was nice to have him around and we got free transport to anywhere in time and space! Downs; both me and Sophie have jobs and so, we couldn't exactly 'babysit' him twenty-four-seven.

The Doctor seemed fine with it though and was happy to look after Alfie, or Stormy as he prefers to be called, instead of sending him to baby-care. He was so upset about the loss of his friends. Some nights we stayed up late and talked, he said that he blamed himself and that sometimes, just sometimes; he wants to travel back and go get them. I understood why he couldn't; I understood why he wanted too.

Then, two days ago, the Doctor decided to take us on a trip to Disneyworld, to say thank you. We packed our bags with most of our things, the Doctor said he wasn't sure how long they would be there for so just take the lot, and filled some rooms in the TARDIS. See, in the TARDIS there is a special hallway for bedrooms. It looked somewhat like an intergalactic hotel! We tried to enter room one, but it was locked. When we asked him about it, after moving into room 5 which turned out was more of a house than a bedroom, the Doctor said that it was out of bounds and we weren't allowed in there.

That's when it all went wrong. Well... I say wrong, but nothing bad happened. We were coming back from our trip to Disneyworld when all of a sudden I fell out of my bed. I tried to get up but the room was shaking, a lot! Once it had stopped the Doctor barged into the room ad told us that something had gone 'Funny-ry worry-ry' whatever that means, and that we were going to have to live with him for a while.

And so that brings us back to now. To me sitting through a holographic chair and hurting my bum. 'So, what are you reading?' I ask him, referring to the book in his hand.

'Oh, it's my diary! I write down important things in it. Things I should remember...' he trailed off. He grabbed a pen and scribbled something onto the paper. I asked to read some of it, an adventure he'd had maybe, but the only reply he gave me before going back to flicking through it was 'Spoilers.'


	2. What To Do When You Can't Stand Your Bed

Bunks beds. Men like me do NOT sleep in bunk beds. I'm 39; I haven't slept in a bunk bed for about 20 years. But it's the only type of bed the Doctor has, that and hammock and I can't sleep in hammocks either so this will have to do.

Sometimes I can hear him at night. The bedroom suite is not that far from the console room and I can hear the Doctor whistling and talking to himself- no, not himself, the TARDIS –each night. I'm worried about him though. I'm pretty sure his talking to the TARDIS is ordinary but I still think something's up. So tonight I have decided I'm going to go talk to him. It's been a while since we had one of our late night talks so tonight's just as good as any other!

I walk down the corridor when the bright lights from the console room hit me. 'Oh, come on dear! We have to get you working soon!' the Doctor shouted at the TARDIS 'Yes, I'm sorry for shouting. You know how it is.' I was about to step into the room but I stopped and just stood in the door frame where I could see him at work.

'Craig will want to get home you know! He doesn't want to stay with me forever, and I don't want him to either.' This took me by surprise. I thought the Doctor was my friend. I became angry, thinking about why the Doctor, the man I considered one of my best friends, would say such a thing? 'You saw what happened to the last two... and the lot of them before that. They all leave, they all stop and they ALL die! And it is always my fault!'

Oh, I step away slightly to be sure he couldn't see me listening 'I give them hope. I just turn up out of the blue and expect them to come along. I lead them to their deaths. I am watching die, every single time I take them away from their normal lives.' He was angry yet his voice sounded so sad. 'Look at the list; Adric, Perri, the Brigadier, Amy and Rory! Look where they all are now! Last time I spoke to Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart was in 2003. He died and I never got to say goodbye.' That's just about the point when the Doctor broke down and started crying, I turned to go back to my room 'And Craig, if you end up staying with me you'll be just like them.'

I turned around and walked up to him. 'Doctor...' I start. I sit him down on the chair by the console. 'Listen to me, it wasn't your fault. None of it was. You save worlds and even galaxies; you're going to lose a couple of troopers. But, as sad and horrible the feeling of losing a friend is, sometimes you need to move on and keep trekking through that desert.' I wasn't the best at words but I gave it my best shot and it seemed to work.

'I'm sorry but you're stuck with me for a while.' He said after calming down. 'I can't get a track on Britain in 2014, obviously the TARDIS has other plans.' He was back at the console now 'Sorry, do me a favour and turn the atom accelerator around three-hundred and sixty degrees anti-clockwise, could you?' I stared at him blankly for a while until it clicked in his head 'Oh, sorry the spikey, twirly ball thing there!' he pointed it out and did as he asked.

'Its fine Doctor, it's nice to spending time with you again. Alfie loves it you know, it's like he's on holiday.' A grin span across his face, happy at what I'd said.

'I mean, we can go to OTHER places in time and space. We aren't STUCK just, not able to go home at the right time.' I grinned and embraced him in a hug. So far as I knew, the Doctor enjoyed my hugs.

Soon morning came and I hadn't gone back to bed. I went to check up on Alfie, who now has to sleep in a hammock because the Doctor hasn't got a decent sized bed for him. He was fast asleep, even when Sophie woke up and tried to wake him, he wouldn't budge. The Doctor came in bearing to mugs of hot drink. A tea for Sophie and an extra-extra caffeine filled coffee for me. 'Thanks Doctor.' Sophie said taking the mug from his hands.

'It's my pleasure.' He said.


	3. Savoury-Sweet Sandwich and Paradox Pie

Normal people, such as myself, like eating food. Normal food. But the Doctor on the other hand hasn't got a concept of what normal is, let alone normal food.

I was in the kitchen, making a sandwich and the Doctor walked in behind me. 'Craig?'

'Yes Doctor?' I say turning to face him.

'You're making one of those sandwiches again aren't you?' he questioned me.

'Yeah... so?' I ask confused. He walks up to me and grabs onto me sandwich, picks it up and starts inspecting it.

'Chicken and mayonnaise.' he said grouchily. 'Chicken and mayonnaise.' he repeated. He took a giant bite out of my sandwich then spat it back out onto the floor. I had to dodge the chewed up sandwich remains so they didn't hit me.

'Whatcha' do that for?!' I screeched, waving my arms around.

'Yuck.' He replied 'Here, try this.' He reached into the fridge and pulled out a baguette. He then handed it to me and I took it. The contents of the sandwich, to me, looked like mustard and beef so I thought it couldn't be too bad! 'Go on, eat!' he urged me.

I took my first bite. It was delicious. But I definitely wasn't beef and mustard. It was sweet, yet sort of tangy at the same time. 'Doctor what did you put in this? It's delicious!' I say mouth full and grinning.

'Tuna' he says 'and custard.' I spit the contents of my mouth out into the sink beside me. 'Sorry, I ran out of fish fingers and thought tuna would be a sufficient replacement!' the Doctor had cheered up since the night of his mini breakdown. He was more smiley and spent more time having fun than moping around.

'You fed me fish and custard?! In a baguette!?' I wasn't angry but I was shouting, the Doctor didn't seem to realise though.

'Yeah, a fish custard sandwich!' he flopped his shoulders. 'What's wrong with that?'

'What's...' I groaned 'Never mind!' we started laughing. It was fun staying on the TARDIS. We'd been here about 2 weeks now. It was, well, different.

Yesterday we managed to get home, our house and everything, just four years in the future. You know meeting your future self is more confusing than they make it out to be in the movies. We stayed for tea actually. I cooked up a lovely chicken pie! I was able to get the recipe off him- me, I don't know. We soon left as the Doctor mentioned some sort of paradox and that he didn't want to do this all over again, in which both of us- I mean me, looked at him with confusion. That's the point when there was a knock on the door.

'Right come on you three back in the TARDIS! Craig, future Craig, you might want to answer the door, themes someone important on the other side!' the Doctor shouted pushing us into the TARDIS doors.

Before the doors closed I heard my future self open the door to a loud 'CRAIG!' from a voice that sounded weirdly like the Doctor's.

Ahh, yes back to the sandwiches. Tuna and custard was lovely and all, but the idea of a savoury pudding is horrible. Ok, so as the Doctor pointed out the Yorkshire pudding and yes I agree but you understand me don't you? OK so I know that I sound completely bonkers, but I guess that's what happens when you start living with a mad man in a box.


	4. Why the Cubes Broke the Doctors Hearts

**_[NOTE:_****_ This 'episode' is a tribute to an old favourite of the WHOverse, one that was taken away too soon. I shan't spoil who they are right now, I'll let you read and find out, but I just wanted you to know that that's what this is, a little way of making the Doctor, and myself, say goodbye.]_**

The Doctor and I had one of our little late night talks last night. Yesterday he dropped us off in 2020 to stay with his old friends Mickey and Martha Smith. Lovely people, very secretive though. They didn't mind us staying with them at all. They also have a son about the age of Alfie, Romeo he was called. They told us the story of how they met, it was interesting albeit confusing. Mickey travelled with the Doctor whose companion was Mickey's girlfriend at the time. He then left to stay in a parallel universe when they accidently crashed there. Martha then also travelled with the Doctor after the hospital she worked in was taken to the moon! Then she also left the Doctor. Then both of then reunited with the Doctor when the parallel universes... I got rather confused by this point. Anyway something happened and they stayed together on Earth. Still a better love story than Twilight, if you ask me!

Then, after a week of staying with the Smith's the Doctor returned to pick us up. That's when I noticed something odd. Both times he landed in their house, to drop us off and pick us up; he didn't come out of his TARDIS, he stayed inside. When he dropped us off he handed me a letter to give them, said he was in a rush and didn't have enough time to speak to them himself. I never found out what was written in that letter.

Until last night, that is. I'd put Alfie to bed, said goodnight to Sophie and gone into the Doctor's study again to look for him. He was not in there. But his diary was; the one with the weird '8' symbol on it. It was just sitting there in his chair. I've always wondered what he writes in it. I know he says important things to remember but what? It's not going to be things like when the milk expires, is it? I pick it up. It's light, and rather small to be honest. The Doctor must have rather small handwriting if he wishes to write loads in here. I try to open it, but can't. That's when I notice the small lock on the side of it.

Idiot.

Then as I go to put it back on the chair I see the small blue envelope, one of the ones the Doctor took from his last visit to mine and also what he put the letter to Martha and Mickey in. I picked it up to read what it said on the envelope. It said 'To Sarah'.

'What do you think you're doing?' said a voice from behind me. 'Do you mind putting that envelope down please?' I placed it down on top of his diary. The Doctor came up behind me and I turned to see him, expecting him to be angry and scowling. Except he wasn't angry or scowling he looked more... calm.

'I'm sorry, I was looking-' I said as apologetically as was possible.

'It's fine.' He said walking past me, picking up the letter and the diary and sitting in his chair. The chair was large, blue and made of velvet. It had a thick wooden edge and no legs. Sorry I forgot to mention the fact it floated in mid-air, didn't I?

He took his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket and held it against the lock on the book. After a flash of green light and that rather addictive buzzing sound the book opened. He chucked it over to me and I caught it in my hands carefully. I looked inside. I was surprised to find that there were only two pages inside, both blank. I looked up at him and was about to speak when he said 'It's a psychic diary. Shows you what part the book you want to see. You don't know what you're looking for so it is showing you the only two blank pages it could find, the beginning and the end.'

So I thought of everything and the book came to life. It became thicker and thicker in my hand and so I stopped and thought back to nothing.

'I suggest you think about the invasion of the very small black cubes.' Now that was something I remember. One day, out of nowhere, all these little black cubes appeared. For about a year nothing happened. They were declared harmless, but soon they started doing all these weird things. I remember we had one in our kitchen that was able to fly around and clean the house simply by scanning it. Then, one day it fell to the floor and started counting down from seven. Once it had got down to zero they opened up. Luckily, because of the warnings that were given over BBC news, we had taken all the boxes in the house and locked them outside. It was lucky because anyone who made contact with them died from their heart stopping. But then out of nowhere everyone came back to life and the cubes remained harmless. We now use them in the garden as art; Sophie stacked them up and made them look all art-y.

Now I've started thinking of the cubes the book fills up a little again this time only having about five to six pages. 'Now think of Sarah Jane Smith.' The Doctor said. Who Sarah was I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it was the same Sarah as the one the letter he was holding in his hand. All of the pages disappeared except for one small slip, about three quarters up the book that read 'Sarah Jane Smith, 12th July 2015.' I remember that as the day of the cube massacre. That's what people called it, the cube massacre, even though only three percent of the victims actually died in the end.

'Who's Sarah?' I asked looking up from the book.

'Sarah Jane was a woman who used to travel with me when I was younger. Brilliant she was. Always. But then one day I let her go. She became one of my defenders. She defended the Earth from a small little attic. I always regretted letting her go, even though she possibly helped you lot out more times a year than I did.' he sat up in his seat, leant over and plucked the book out of my hand. 'You recognise the date?' he asked.

'The day of the cube massacre, yeah.' I said sitting down in the chair behind me, this time not the holographic one.

'The cube massacre?' he laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh 'Is that what they called it?'

'Yes, three percent of the victims didn't come back to life.'

'I know that. When I was up there in that spaceship reversing the power of the cubes, bringing them all back, I didn't set it strong enough.' he frowned and opened up the envelope.

'Oh my god...' I whispered realising where this was going.

'Sarah and I have always had similar minds. Both of us ignored the warnings and studied the cubes at the last minutes of countdown. One of my hearts stopped, and so did hers.' I could see he was at the point of crying, but held back his tears. 'I arrived just in time to go to the funeral with her children, Luke and Sky, and their friends. I didn't even know. It turns out they were waiting for me. Waiting for me to turn up otherwise they would have postponed it again, for the fifth time.'

'Doctor, I'm so sorry.' I couldn't believe it, the man had no luck. His friends were like his family.

'You see Craig? One day, I'm going to knock on that door of yours and you aren't going to be there. Whether you've moved house, just aren't in or something worse, you won't be there. I may never see you again.' now he was angry. Not with me obviously, I could see he was angry at the fact he never grows old.

'Then I won't move house. And you can call so you won't miss us.'

'You don't understand. It's inevitable. Everything comes to an end. And so will you.' I know what you're thinking, "This sounds exactly the same as the conversation you had with him earlier when he broke down." Which, if I was reading this I would also think, but it wasn't. The Doctor wasn't a sobbing, depressed wreck this time. He was making a point. One that, unfortunately, was completely true.

'But that's the future! A long way off! I'll be here forever if you need me Doctor. You are my best friend.' I got up from the seat and walked over to him. He also stood up from his seat.

'For you but not for me, it could be next week for me but seventy odd years for you. You never know what's going to happen whilst travelling in time.' he walked over to the door, got the screwdriver and 'buzzed' the lock on his diary shut. He put the screwdriver away ad turned to go out the door. I realise he is angry, and I don't blame him. He's sad. He then came back into the room 'Oh and Craig, if I was you, I'd stay out of my study in the future.'

Then he left. I picked up the envelope and opened it. Inside was a letter. It read:

_To my dearest companions, _

_Hello, the Doctor here. You should all know by now that I choose not to look back because if I do, I will want to change my mistakes. But this is the last time. You may, or may not, have seen me since you left those TARDIS doors or however you, or I, decided you should go. Some of you will want to know what happened to me. I'd rather not say. It's hard enough as it is, living with two hearts, only it's harder to live with two broken ones. I'm sorry this letter is only short, I'm sorry I can't come and visit you all. But this goes out to all of you; the ones who survived. _

_I'm sorry if you don't recognise the messenger of this letter, I've changed a bit. I also might have got a good friend of mine to give you this. Either way I promise this is the real deal, cross both hearts. I hope this gets to you all; Susan, Ian, Barbara, Vicki, Polly, Steven, Dodo, Victoria, Liz, Sarah, Harry, Leela, Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough, Mel, Ace, Grace, Martha, Mickey, Jack, Amy and Rory. I've included you all, the same letter to you all because in my hearts you are all equal. I know none of you will forget the times we had. I just hope you are like me, and never look back in anger.  
_

_The Doctor _

_X_

_P.S have a good life. All of you._

I put the letter back in the envelope, placed it back on the chair and left the room.


	5. The Beginning of the End

You know those stories, ones that don't end particularly well, that start off by saying something like "This is the beginning of the end"?

This is the beginning of the end.

'Listen, you need to go home.' he said bluntly, looking me straight in the eyes. 'I made a mistake bringing you to stay.'

'What?!' I say confused- Ok, so I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. It all started... wait no. I'm sounding really stereotypical of a story in first person. Let's start again...

Two days ago we travelled to the planet Ptederator. Lovely place, shame the locals weren't the same. They accused Sophie and me of stealing Alfie from the infantry there. They then locked us up in a prison cell. Luckily the Doctor was able to get us out and Alfie back using the TARDIS, but it wasn't exactly the best holiday.

'I've had enough! This is the fourth time something dangerous or life threatening has happened this month!' I was putting Alfie to bed and could hear Sophie's shouting as if she was in the next room. I kissed Alfie's fore-head and walked into the corridor.

'Technically it hasn't been a month, actually in the TARDIS time doesn't-' the Doctor countered her point.

'Oh, shut up!' she interrupted.

'Sophie, calm down.' I butted in, walking up behind her grabbing her hand. I gave the Doctor a look. A look we both knew meant 'don't-worry-about-her'. I told her to go to bed, that we'd discuss this in the morning. She didn't argue, she said she had a head-ache anyway and stormed off.

'Listen, you need to go home.' he said bluntly, looking me straight in the eyes. 'I made a mistake bringing you to stay.' he said as soon as Sophie was far enough away that she couldn't hear us.

'What?!' I say confused. 'We're here because of an accident with the TARDIS, we can't go home!' that's when I realise what's really going on here. 'You... you sabotaged the TARDIS so we had to stay with you... that's why you told us to get all of our things, not because you didn't know how long we'd be at Disney for, but because you were kidnapping us.'

He snorted 'Kidnapping? Really Craig, you think I'd kidnap you?' I shook my head, looking at my feet in shame of the ridiculous thought 'I needed a friend. Someone I could look after. Someone who could look after me.'

Now you're up-to-date with what's going on.

'So you took us away from our lives, our friends, and our family because you needed someone?' I was angry. I have been hurt, almost lost my son and wife and now I was also rather fed up.

'Craig...' he tried to talk to me but I wasn't listening.

'After all this time I thought you actually wanted what was best for us, but you were just using us to replace Amy and Rory. You... you... I'm off to bed.' And I stormed off, out the doorway into the corridor. Silence. Nothing was heard apart from the hum of the TARDIS.

'Craig!' the Doctor finally called. I am not going to listen to this, not anymore, not after I found out the truth.

'Don't Doctor... just don't.' I called back looking behind me, before walking into my room.

So, he dropped us off home. One hour after we'd packed our bags to leave for Disneyworld and then he was gone.


	6. Penultimate Moments

'I don't like endings.' he once said 'They ruin what was a good story, and so, without the ending, it IS a great story.' this was after he had finished reading 'The Hunger Games' series and had ripped the last page out of the third and final book 'Mockingjay'. This, however, was about two months ago, even though in OUR time line it was more like three or four. See, we travelled with him, the Doctor that is, for what Sophie estimated was about a month and a half, and since we demanded he send us home, not much long after he took us away with him, that month and a half had never really happened.

Life never really changed to be honest, I mean it stayed the same as it was before the Doctor returned. Alfie went back to nursery, or as they chose to call it 'Child/Baby care' which I've never seen the point off, Sophie went back to work at the book store, she had started work there soon after Alfie was born! It was a great little shop but was going out of business fast, that is until Sophie came up with the idea of making it into a mini-library of sorts. They lend books out and if the person liked it they could buy it.

But then there was me. Alone at home. I should probably explain; see, after the Doctor left the first time round I was fired which, technically, was his fault, but I never complained. Not out loud anyway.

So, I was going on the job hunt, and nothing good had happened because of it. Turns out when an employer asks you the question "So, why were you fired from your last job?" 'Because an alien who rented a room in my flat, came in when I was ill and did a better job than myself.' is an answer that will only get you removed from the building and called crazy.

Though I have good news, I suppose. I lost weight! Okay so not the greatest good news but still good, don't you think? Football season is over though (and football practise was the only exercising I actually did) and I spend more time in the pub and playing darts with Shaun.

Shaun was my friend, who I've known since primary school. But then when we turned about twenty he had to go back and live in Ireland, where he had lived before moving to Britain. But he bought a house over here not long ago and we see each other a lot more now. He's fun, and the only friend who actually believed the truth about the Doctor. He is a bit of a sci-fi nut, to be honest. He loves Star Wars and Star Trek et cetera. He wants to meet him, the Doctor I mean, but I told him I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

I keep thinking I was such an idiot, getting angry at the Doctor and all. After about a two days of being home I regretted it. I understood why he did it now, and even then 'it' wasn't really anything! I don't see why I complained, we were happy to travel with him, have adventures with him and see the stars. And it wasn't all bad, no! I got to meet Elvis! _The _Elvis! I love Elvis! I ate a double cheese and bacon sandwich with Elvis! Did I mention I met _Elvis?_

But why haven't I heard from him? The Doctor, not Elvis. Surely he would have wanted to try to see if we were settling back in. Wouldn't he?

Though I saw him on the TV the other day. Whether or not it was the Doctor from our time or not I don't know, but it was good to see him again. I bet you're wondering why he was on television, aren't you? Turns out he was an extra in an old episode of 'Only Fools and Horses' I saw him walk behind Trigger and Rodney and sort of smile at the camera. I think the smile gave it away that he was a young Doctor, way before the loss of Amy and Rory.

Oh, and then he went viral! Yeah, an image of the Beatles was released and there was this man in it who no one knew! Not even Ringo or Paul could remember, well... apart from the fact he had a PhD and helped them write 'Yellow Submarine'.

But something is definitely up, I just hope he's ok...

Right now I'm in the kitchen, making up some custard to go with my fish fingers, what? It's nice! But for now I guess this is the end of my story.

_**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**_

Or are they just the penultimate moments?


	7. Why We Should Never Let Go

**_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_**

So, we don't usually get visitors, especially on Thursday afternoons. The post comes in the morning, and usually if people come over they call first. I was, at first, reluctant to answer it. I was going to pretend I wasn't in, sit in front of the TV and just munch on my fish custard. Hey, I have the latest episode of 'QI' on record and need to catch up!

**_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_**

I groggily got up from the sofa, placed my bowl on the table and paused the TV. I walked to the door, and clicked it open.

No one. No one was there! I was going to close the door, until I noticed the items that were on my doorstep. A blue envelope and the Stetson a gave to the Doctor before he left for America. I picked up the hat and the envelope and closed the door.

As I sat back down onto my sofa, I opened the envelope and found the letter inside, written in the Doctors handwriting, it read:

_Craig, _

_I hope this letter has made its way to you. I have estimated that it should have turned up on your doorstep around a week or two after I dropped you off, though I have been wrong in the past. So, how has it been, without the travelling? Do you miss it? Of course you do, they always do but probably not for the right reasons. I hope Sophie and Alfie are well, I realise Sophie was rather shaken when I dropped you off... _

_Anyway, I returned the hat! Thanks by the way, sorry for the bullet hole, the misses is quite the gun nut. I managed to clean it up a little though, which is obviously good! I know you said you didn't mind if I kept it, but I felt it was right, you know? _

_I should get going, I must have an important conversation with a certain Soviet dictator about some ham. Anyway, if I have delivered this myself I should still be outside your house, if you wanted to come say hello! I guess you might not want to, after what happened and all. _

_I wouldn't have come back, but I realised that no one should ever let go, especially of the things we care about!  
_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Your good friend, the Doctor._

I ran, literally, ran out of the door and looked all over for that blue box, but I couldn't see it anywhere, and, let's be honest, it's not hard to spot. I slowly walked back into the house, realising that I was too late.

That's when I heard it. The familiar 'vroom' of the TARDIS. I turned round only to be blown backwards as I was surrounded by the fading design of the TARDIS interior. Once finally landed, I walked up the steps of the console room.

'Doctor!?' I called.

'Sorry, I meant to land down the road.' he said from the other side of the console, popping his head round it. He was smiling, he seemed happy, why?

'I um... I read your letter...'

'How out was I?' he said referring to to the date.

'Well, you said a week or two, but it's been more like a month or two.' I laughed, it was good to see him again.

'Oh, well I'm here now!' he walked over to me and his grin disappeared from his face. 'Craig...'

'Don't worry Doctor, it wasn't your fault, I was being stupid.; I grinned at him and he grinned back, embracing each other into a hug.


End file.
